50 Years of Amnesty International

On 28 May 2011 Amnesty International marks its 50th anniversary - 50 years of uninhibited fight against injustice and repression. It was way back in 1961 that a British lawyer Peter Benenson, enraged by a newspaper report of two Portuguese students from Coimbra being sentenced to seven years in prison for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom, started this movement for freedom and justice. From that humble beginning Amnesty International has grown into a global movement of more than 3 million supporters as well as members and activists in more than 150 countries and territories.

Though it is true that the human rights situation around the world has undergone a sea change in these 50 years, for which Amnesty International can certainly take some credit, there still exist a lot of human rights issues left to be solved. The 50th anniversary of Amnesty International comes at a time when there are a lot of changes happening in the human rights landscape as is evident from the way in which people of Middle East and North Africa are fighting against oppression and tyranny. It has become imperative that we remain committed to strengthening the global human rights movement.

Amnesty International is committed to protect freedom of expression, abolish the death penalty, defend rights of women and girls, demand international justice, stop corporate abuse and end oppression and injustice. For achieving these goals Amnesty International is in need of the help of each and every one of you. Change is possible and international solidarity on human rights is what we need to accomplish that.

50th Anniversary of Amnesty International is accompanied by a new drive – “Be one more, ask one more, act once more” – that urges everyone, including three million members of Amnesty International, to encourage at least one person to take action for human rights. On this account I implore all my readers to join with Amnesty International in its campaign against human rights violations and make a difference in the lives of millions of people around the world who are reeling under oppression, discrimination and violence.

Source: Official website of Amnesty International

A Night at a Railway Waiting Room

Our Indian Railways is a great thing, for, apart from our parents and teachers, if there is someone who has a genuine and keen interest in providing opportunities and creating circumstances for us to improve our inherent skills, it is Indian Railways. It scarcely commits the capital mistake of running trains on time and thus provides all its travellers ample time to indulge in their interests and sharpen their skills – those who like to read can read, those who like to write can write, those who like to draw can draw, those who like to observe can observe and so on. I am one in the last category, those who like to observe, and a railway waiting room is the best place to pursue such a vocation, if ever there is one.

On a Friday night, while I was indulging in my favourite occupation of observation at a waiting room of a railway station, my eyes got hooked on to a tall, lean, fair lady in her early twenties. Not only my eyes, but the eyes of all humanity that had the chance to assemble there at the waiting room at that point of time, were fixed on her. Children, men, women, all were staring at her as if staring at an animal in a zoo, for she had a queer, if not weird, look about her. She was in a pink dress that revealed more than it concealed, though leaving something for the imagination of the beholders as well. Strings were dangling from all parts of her dress with beads attached to their ends, which made some noise every time she cringed, crouched or bent. She had a metal ring fixed on her nose, the sort of ring that women used to wear on their ears in the past - in those good old days when women where unambiguously women - which appeared to have made her feel elevated to the ranks of Indian tennis superstar Sania Mirza. Her white, transparent duppatta slipped from her shoulder as often as was logically possible for a cloth of its kind to slip, and as many times she put it back to its place that many times it slipped off and fell down. If you thought that the constant slipping of the duppatta and the difficulty of putting it back to its place had caused her some discomfort or annoyance, it must be noted that she seemed to belong to a rare tribe of humankind for whom such human emotions occurred not when a trivial thing like slipping of a piece of cloth occurred, but when things of much greater gravity, like railway announcements that declared the arrivals of other trains than the one in which she had to travel, happened.

Even when such fascinating things, as a pretty lady with revelation as her prime goal, constantly seize the attention of a young mind as mine, there are certain things that would usurp your attention and turn it towards them. The unsolicited DJs, people with loud music in their mobile phones, as is often seen in places where we normally travel ‘cattle-class’ (guess Shashi Tharoor hasn’t got any trademark protection on the usage of the word), are some of that kind who’ve this disgusting habit of making others listen to what they like. You would invariably find Bollywood songs of the 1990s in their song collection, which they would play in loud sound inflicting serious harm on others like me, who are involved in much more important and significant occupations like observing people.

While I was rather immersed in such mixed observations, I was suddenly woken up from my trance by the sound of some furious thing. Startled by such a bizarre sound I turned back and found out that it was no one but the lady, the keeper of the latrine, who was the object of such a commotion. I have often noticed that this lady, who is about two-score years old, has this awful penchant of spewing insolent remarks at anyone and everyone frequenting the waiting room. Every time you ask her something you could be sure that she will answer you with some rude words. This time around it was some poor girl who was the victim of her abuse; the girl’s crime – she had only 10 rupee note with her and not the exact change to pay for the use of the latrine. In between, when the lady resorted to a light doze, a couple of young children went inside the latrine, splashed their boots, came out and went off with stealthily footsteps without paying, while not forgetting to make some faces in front of the sleeping lady in absolute merriment. Then suddenly the lady woke up and resumed her denunciation of one and all – of a kid hither, of a lady thither and of an old man yonder.

Amidst all these chaos and delightful distractions, there dwelled a couple, a pair of a beautiful girl and a handsome young man, obviously lovers, hand in hand, glancing together with great interest on to a personal diary, most probably of the girl, in which she might have added the day by day account of their love story. The girl was entirely leaning on to the boy as if saying to the world that he was her ultimate support, both literally and metaphorically. While her one hand was in the young man’s hand, the other one was on his shoulder, busy at the business of pinching his ears often and laughing heartily at it – altogether, a great romantic spectacle indeed. Her eyes, though were looking on to the diary, frequently wandered and every such time they ended up eventually at the lady in the pink dress and in each one of these occasions there was jealousy in her eyes and curse on her lips. Her lover, the handsome young man, though appeared to be rather enthusiastic in reading the diary, occasionally threw glances at the lady in the pink dress as well, without his girlfriend knowing it, until he noticed me observing him staring at that lady. Now his attention turned on to me and he had a look of abhorrence at me probably thinking what a boring person I would be to languish in such a monotonous waiting room on a cold night without a girlfriend leaning on my shoulder or calling me on my phone.

By that time it was well past midnight and most passengers in the waiting room had either slept or were in the threshold of a deep slumber when another announcement came and all lent their ears to it. And there it was – the announcement that my train would arrive within a short time, of course late by two and a half hours. We all were happy – the lady in the pink dress, the unsolicited DJ and I, for it was our train; the lover couple, for it was not their train (yes, what a blissful thing Indian Railways is for the romantic hearts). I got up, took my bag, dusted it off, put it on to my shoulders and started walking when the handsome young man whispered something on to his girlfriend’s ears and they both gazed at me. Then I paused, thought for a second, looked back and gave them a rise smile as if wishing them that their train would never come.

Osama's Death – Significance and Symbolism

I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure. - Mark Twain

On 1 May 2011, at about 11.30pm PST, US President Barack Obama gave a rare address to the nation, where he declared that Osama bin Laden, US’ worst enemy since 11 September 2001, has been declared dead. There was great jubilation in different parts of the United States – in front of the White House, at Ground Zero, at Times Square and in the streets of the different US cities. Osama was killed by a precision strike by US Navy Seals, a highly trained and sophisticated team of US combatants, in a 40 minutes operation in Abbottabad, a city in Pakistan that is just two hour drive away from the capital Islamabad.

Barack Obama in his now historic address declared “justice has been done” and seemed to be rather relieved at the fact. At the same time he was quick to add that the US’ war is not against Islam and called Osama ‘a killer of Muslims’. Now what is the significance that the killing has on the world affairs or the international community’s fight against terrorism? Experts believe that the killing of Osama is more about symbolism than significance. Had he been killed within about 3 or 4 years after the 9/11 attacks it would have been a significant event. But Osama bin Laden doesn’t have a great following among radical Muslims around the world now. Today we don’t see t-shirts with Osama’s picture being sold anywhere in the world and Osama has almost receded to oblivion and obscurity. Other than some video messages that he came up with occasionally, he was not involved in any serious propaganda or action against the so called “enemies of Islam”. As Osama was able to escape from the clutches of the US, even after the deadly attack against him by the US forces in the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan, there was a belief among the terrorists that they can escape even from the military might of the US. This gave them a sort of added confidence in pursuing bigger terrorists strike in the different parts of the world. But now that Osama is killed it would have become clear to terrorists that they can create mayhem in the world only at their own peril.

It must be said that the end of Osama bin Laden doesn’t mean the end of al-Qaeda, as it is more of a loose network than a structured organisation to be affected by the death of their leader, unlike say, LTTE that was entirely under the control of Velupillai Prabhakaran. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian born No.2 of the al-Qaeda would most probably take the charge of the organisation. There are also many affiliates of al-Qaeda around the world who act more like a franchisee of the deadly organisation. Though organisations like al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in North Africa are inspired by Osama, they are believed to be largely independent of him. There are chances that such organisations would project Osama's death as martyrdom and organise various attacks all over the world. The US buried Osama’s body in the sea as they were afraid that his burial site might become a place of “pilgrimage” to his devotees and a rallying point from where to launch more attacks on the world. Countries around the world are beefing up their security as they foresee a reprisal from the al-Qaeda network.

The fact that Osama was hiding in a sprawling campus in Abottabad city of Pakistan, some 800 metres away from a military training camp and not in any remote places, has become an embarrassment to the Pakistan government and the military. At a time when US-Pakistan relationship is at a crossroad, this fact would become a new thorn in their relationship. It is really hard to believe that the Pakistan intelligence was unaware of such a high profile terrorist hiding in the country. Pakistan authorities have much to answer as to whether they have ignored what was going under their nose, or worse, did they collude with Osama in providing him a safe haven in the country. It is very much clear that the US did not have any trust on the Pakistani authorities as was clear from the fact that they didn’t inform the Pakistan authorities about the attack on Osama. Anyways Pakistan government has distanced itself from the attack and called it an entirely US operation as they are afraid of any backlash that might happen in their own country. Senators of the opposition benches as well as the leadership of many mainstream religious and religio-political parties in Pakistan called the killing of Osama a direct attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan as foreign forces entered Pakistan’s territory and killed Osama without even informing the Pakistan authorities. At the same time, the fact that Osama was found hiding in Pakistan has vindicated India’s long time claim that Pakistan is supporting global terrorism.

There is no doubt that the killing of Osama bin Laden will be a massive boost to Barack Obama as he is preparing himself for the Presidential election in 2012. It would surely create a lot of turbulence in the Republican camp as they themselves are struggling for focus. Obama would certainly use the killing of Osama as a major weapon against GOP’s criticism that he is ineffective in the foreign policy front. Many of his conservative foes including Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani are lavishing praises on the President. It should be seen for how long Obama’s triumph over Osama would influence people’s minds. Though the killing of Osama would enhance Barack Obama’s chances in the Presidential elections he has to do more in the domestic front where joblessness, a slow recovery from the economic slump and high gasoline prices have made people agitated against his Presidency.

At the same time is quite heartening to see that the youth in the Arab world is not influenced by malicious propaganda of the terrorists but is embracing democracy, as is evident from what we have seen in Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. The young people of the world must draw inspiration from Anna Hazares and Wael Ghonims (the Google executive who used social media in organising revolt against Hosni Mubarak in Egypt) and not Osamas.

While the killing of Osama bin Laden, a deadly terrorist, is a triumph to the world community, it must be noted that our struggle against terrorists and radicals hasn’t ended. There is a larger challenge for the global community and that is to completely dismantle and destroy al-Qaeda affiliates and other such terrorist organisations all over the world. We have to be more alert and vigilant against the terrorists who have no moral base or human character.